Machine and method for pressing cup-shaped members



H O. DAILEY Feb. 9, 1932.

MACHINE AND METHOD FOR PRESSING CUP SHAPED MEMBERS Filed Jan. 8, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet Invenio 2".- Haroid (LDaziZgy. I g,- eflilify'i Feh 9, 1932.

MACHINE AND H, o. DAILEY 1,844,500

METHOD FOR PRESSING CUR SHAPED MEMBERS Filed Jan. 8, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 a5 56 s 60 i e6 e2, 64 l" Inzieniow: v mold 01202956 9 Ffi bo 9, 1932. H C), DAHLEY 1,844,500

MACHINE AND METHOD FOR PRESSING CUP SHAPED MEMBERS Filed Jan. 8, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 WWW x M B 60 F .9 w

4 00000 8 C Q Q 12:11 52 11:: -52 2 lnvenior: aroZdOlIaziZey;

Patented Feb. 9, 1932 HAROLD O. BAILEY, 0F N EEDHAI HEIGHTS, MASSACHUSETTS MACHINE AN D METHOD FOR PBESSING CUP-SHAPED mum- Application and January 8, 1829. Serial 1E0. 831,129,.

My invention aims to provide a novel and improved process'and machine for producing cupped or cup-shaped members, such as boxes, box covers and the like, of desired 5 shape or outline, and made preferably from non-metallic material, such as paper pulp, pasteboard or cardboard and the like.

The nature of my invention will best be understood from a disclosure of the best em;

10 bodiment now known to me.

Referring to the drawings lFig. l in elevation, partial section, shows a convenient form of press for practicing one illustration of my invention.

Fig. 2, a detail illustrating the stool; feedin means;

*ig. 3,*"a sectional detail of the female die and heating chamber. therefor, employed in 4 the press Fig.1;

t, an enlarged detail, partially in section, illustrating" the construction and co operation of the dies for pressing the mate rial as they appear at or near to the beginning of the pressing operation;

Fig. '5, a nearly similar view onstill larger scale, showing the plunger at the limit -of its pressing movement and showing the pressed article in pressed position;

Fig. 6, a detail showing parts illustrated in Fig. i but with the cooperating members separated as they would appear before the material is fed into position between the same;

t, a cross-sectional detail on the dotted line 7-7(, Fig. 6, looking down, showing the strippers employed to assist in freeingthe cupped member from the plunger after the latter has been retracted;

Fig. 8, an enlarged sectional detail showing the engagement of one of the strippers with the wall of the cupped member and in the act of freeing the latter from the plunger;

Fig. 9, a much enlarged detail of the plunger and cooperating parts and showing different forms of restraining surfaces upon the plunger to restrain or resist undesired how of the material in the act of being pressed; to Fig. 10, in perspective, shows theblank in J presser cams 6 arranged to act upon cooperatwith its perimeter fluted, immediately preparatory to the cupping operation; and

Fig. 11, a view showing one fgrm of cupped member produced by my novel process and machine.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the press or ma chine there illustrated comprises generall a suitable base 1, upon the upper side of whic is formed. a segmental cradle 2, in which is fitted and along which may be moved for 60 adjustment of its inclined position the head 3, comprising a suitable base 4, with upright arms carrying in their-upperends bearings for the dr ve shaft 5.

This head may be adjusted along and in the cradle 2 by a screw, not shown, or other suitable adjusting means, preferably selflocking, to make possible the bringing of the head into desired angular position for most convenient handling of the material.

The shaft 5 is driven by a V pulley, not shown, from any suitable shaft or motor, and is provided between the arms 3 with apair of mg rollers 7 journalled respectively 1n the free ends of the oscillatory, arms 8 fulcrumed on a stationary shaft 9 mounted in the arms 3.

Theosciliatory arms 8, in turn, are connected by links 10 with trunnion pins adjustably held in lugs 11 on the sides of a w reciprocable sleeve 12 which constitutes a presser, the same being flanged at its lower end 13 to provide a presser face which, in. the operation of the press, serves preliminaril to engage the material "to be pressed and old it in position preliminary to the action of the plunger thereon.

Between the cams 6, the shaft 5 carries an eccentric 14, the strap 15 for which is provided with 9. depending arm having a disk like end 16 which is journalled in a suitably formed recess bearing in the upper end of a plunger 17, which reciprocates freely within the reciprocable sleeve 12 described. The

lower end of this plunger 18 is reduced in diameter, as shown, to constitute the plunger head which, by its descent within the female die to be described, cups the material about and upon itself, the diameterof the plunger head determining the inside diameter of the cupped member to be produced.

The segmental base 4 of the adjustable machine head is provided with a seat for the diereceiving heating box 19, shown best in section Fig. 3, which is provided with a cylindrical opening to receive the female die 20. The box 19 contains a generally ring-like heating chamber 21 supplied by steam through an inlet pipe 22 from any source of steam supply. In lieu of steam any other heating means may be employed such, for example, as electricity.

The use of a heating medium to warm the die is desirable with many products, particularly such as are of a pulpy nature and contain more or less moisture.

Vertically reciprocable in the die 20, see Figs. 4 and 5, is an ejector head 23 provided with a depending stem 24'arranged to slide in a suitable bearing in the bottom of the die box 19, and provided at its bottom end with a stop in the form of a screw 25 which limits its upward movement. Between the under side of the ejector head 23 and the bottom of the box is arranged a spring 26 which tends normally to lift the ejector head to its most elevated position, determined by the stog head 25, but which permits the ejector e plunger, in the act of cupping a blank.

The ejector head is provided with a vent opening 27, Fig. 4, to permit moisture or vapor between the blank and its upper surface to escape into the spring chamber, and the die box 1s provided at its bottom, in the vicinity of the spring seat, Fig. 4, with a passage 28 to perm1t escape of moisture or vapor from the spring chamber.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 4 to 6 inclusive, the inner upper edge of the die 20 is shown rounded at 29 to ease the movement of the blank to be pressed from disklike shape to cup-shape, and surrounding the die and resting upon the steam box is a corrugating ring 30, the upper face of which is provided with radial corrugations for corrugating the marginal portion of'the blank that is to be pressed, and this corrugating ring is provided with an outwardly projecting ledge 31 overlying which is a holding portion 32 of the cutter ring 33, also seated upon the top of the die box and securely held thereon by suitable means such as the cap screws 34, shown best in Fig. 4, extended upward from the bottom of the die box.

The inner edge of the cutter ring 33 is shown as standing somewhat above the upper face of the corrugating ring 30 and is suitably formed to serve as a cutting edge, with which cooperates a malecutting die 35 attached to the lower end of the reciprocable presser 13 previously referred to, and to which the male cutting die is suitably secured,

as by the cap screws 36.

ad to yield before 'the' descending The article to be formed, in the present instance a box cover or member of circular outline, is formed from material conveniently fed to the machine in the form of a strip S taken from a suitable source of supply as a roll S and drawn therefrom upon each successive stroke of the plunger by any desired feed mechanism. In the present instance this feed mechanism is typified, see Fig. 2, by a pair of feed rollers 37, 38, mounted in a bracket attached to the die box 19. One of the rollers, 38, is provided at its end with a pinion 39 driven by a gear 40, provided with a ratchet wheel 41 actuated in turn by a pawl 42 on an arm 43 journalled about the shaft of the wheel 40. The ratchet arm 43 is provided with an actuating rod 44 extending upward to and adjustably journalled in the free end of an actuating arm 45, see Fig. 1, fulcrumed at 46 upon one of the arms 3 of the machine head. This actuating arm 45 is provided with a roller 47, which is actuated by a cam 48 mounted upon the main drive shaft 5 of the machine, the arrangement bein such that at each rotation of the drive sha the pawl actuating arm is depressed to cause the pawl 42 to impart a feeding step through the feed rollers 37, 38, to draw from the roll S a length of material from which a cupped blank is to be stamped and formed. Thus at every stroke of the press a new blank portion is presented to the plunger and die for the formation of a new cupped member.

This material is cut out in theform of a disk, preliminary to the cupping operation, by the descent of the plunger sleeve 12, the lower end of which is equipped with the male cutting die 35 described, which in its descent enters the female die 32, also described, and severs from the strip the disk blank shown in perspective, Fig. 10, and marked B, As the disk is cut out from the strip, it is carried down before the descending male cutting die and is pressed firmly against the corrugating ring 30described. ,The topmost and corrugates the margin of the disk blank B before the plunger 17, 18, in its descent meets the clamped blank. When the plunger meets the blank, the latter being supported from beneath by the ejector head 23, the usually bulging or crowning end 51 of the plunger first depresses the middle portion of the blank more or less into the cupped depression in the top surface of the ejector head, and

thereafter, in its further descent, pushes the spring supported ejector before it downward within the forming die 20, carrying with it the disk blank clamped between them. In this movement the marginal portion of the blank is drawn from between the corrugated gripping faces of the dies, the radial corrugations er flutes impressed therein facilitating the crimping of the marginal portion of the disk as the latter is infolded and drawn down into the formingdie, between the latter and the contained descending plunger.

its the disk is thus drawn down between the descending plunger and the surrounding wall of the forming die 20, it is pressed with sub stantial pressure into upstanding cylindrical formation, and since the separation of the plunger from the surrounding die wall is no but approximately the thickness of the blank till till

itself, it is obvious that the crimping and infolding of the blank to form the upstanding cylindrical wall, will put the material of the blank under great pressure, compressing it and eliminatin the corrugations formed in the initial in olding of the material. Since the material flows readily, particularly in the presence of the surrounding heat, the tendency of the material is to exude upward and outward from between the die wall and the contained plunger, and this exuding movement, if unrestrained, tends to form streaks and ruptures in the faces of the upstanding wall which would be evidenced in the completed article by a certain roughness but more particularly by a rupture of the surface or face of the material. This would prevent the use of a blank having a finish face such as it would be desirable to use to obviate employment of a covering sheet of paper or the like.

it's retard this exuding movement to such eirtent will eliminate this tendency to roughness and rupture and, so far as possitile, to completely eliminate such exuding movement, l have provided one of the active faces of the telescoping members, herein the outer, cylindrical face of the plunger 17, 18, with recesses into which the material under formation may spread and be thereby restrained from upward exuding movement between the walls or active faces of the telescoping members. I prefer to employ ringlike depressions 52, see Fig. 9, and these ring- 5 like depressions may be made of uniform depth throughout. as indicated at 52, Fig. 9, or they may be of increasing depth from the bottom to the top. as at 52*. The advantage of the latter is that while presenting the same abrupt upper wall to the recess that is pre sented by the grooves 52, the inclined bot tom makes it easier for the plunger to withdraw itself as it clears the die in rising, than is possible with the use of the square bottom 3 wells in the form of grooves shown at 52 In practice, however, with average stock, I have found that the walls of the form of grooves 52 free themselves satisfactorily from the inner and resultantrigid wall of the cup ed member without diflicult but some stoc is of such nature as to ma e it desirable to promote the freeing action by emplo ing the grooves having tapered bottom wal s, as shown at 52. 7

Different kinds of stock may make different kinds of recesses or to that end my invention contemplates using where desirable, either with or without the continuous ring-like grooves referred to, interrupted, sectional grooves 52, shown as arranged in staggered rows, or I may use shallow circular recesses 52, with or without the others.

In Fig. '11 I have shown the completed cupped member as it will a pear when withdrawn from the forming die, the same being marked B It will be observed that the closed bottom of the member indicated at B is left crowning by reason of the crowning or rounded end of the pressing plunger, and this crowning. of course, may be accentuated more or less by properly shaping the pressing members or it may be entirely eliminated and left flat or even concave, according to the requirements of the use to which the member is to be put. t

The faces of the upstanding wall of the pressed member usually presentlines B which mark the infolding of the corrugated marginal portion of the disk from which the member is pressed, but these marks are only noticeable in appearance. they do not indicate corresponding lines of weakness in the wall. be-

grooves desirable, and

cause of the heavy pressure under which they v are formed.

The inner face of the upstanding wall of the member does, however, present marked ring-like ridges or ribs indicated at B, Figs. 5, 8 and 9. left by contact with the grooves or recessed exterior surface of the forming plunger and these ring-like ribs, appearing in circular formation completely around the exterior face of the upstanding wall, serve to strengthen the latter against accidental destructive crushing action from without.

To facilitate stripping the pressed member from the rising plunger after completion of the forming operation. I have provided strippers arranged within the upper cutting die 35.

Referring particularly to Figs. 5, 7 and 8, the upper cutting die 35 is recessed surrounding the plunger to receive a plurality of segmental strippers 53, Fig. 7, provided respectively with countersunk orifices for receipt of the cap screws 54 tapped into the cutting die The orifices in the strippers are larger in diameter than the shanks of the screws received therein so that the strippers, while held firmly against movement lengthwise the screws, may move freely, radially of the cutting die.

The inner edges of the segmental strippers are bevelled as at 55, Fig. 8, or otherwise formed closely and effectively to hug the plunger '18, and they are provided with means to press them yieldingly toward the plunger as, for example, a sprlng 56, see Fig. 7, which encircles the entire series of strippers and -draws them all yieldingly inward toward and result that as the plunger continues to rise,

the cupped .member is stripped from the plunger and may readily be removed by hand or automatically from between the pressing members preparatory to the feeding in of a new strip of material or disk blank for the pressing of a succeeding member.

The resiliency or elasticity of the material from which the cup is formed is such that when upward movement of the pressed member is resisted by the strippers, and prevented from continuing with the plunger, the rin like ribs upon the inner face of the upstan ing wall of the pressed member readily disengage from the recesses in the plunger in which they were formed, facilitated or not by special formations of the bottoms of the plunger grooves, so that the pressed member is not injured in the slightest by stripping it from the plunger upon which it was formed.

It is sometimes necessary to provide the crown or flat head of the cupped member with an axial opening to facilitate filling or discharge of the moisture that is contained within the pressed member and,'to accomplish this automatically and practically simultaneously with the formation of the cupped member itself, the end of the plunger, whether cupped or fiat, see Fig. 9 where it is shown as flat, is provided with a recess 56, 57, the ring-like wall of which is provided with a cutting edge, which recess is arranged to cooperate with and to receive a correspondingly shaped male cutting member 58 upstanding on the ejector head 23. As the plunger descends and meets the spring-supported elevated ejector head, at the moment of impact or subsequently during the further descent of the plunger, the pressure will be such as to cause the male cutting member 58 on the ejector head, acting in cooperation with the female or recessed member 57 on the plunger, to cut in the middle of the blank, or in such portion of the blank as it is desired that the opening shall appear, a usually circular openin the blank 59 so cut from the disk blank bemgpressed upward into the bottom of the female cutting member 57 in the end of the plunger. This blank 59 usually drops out automatically of itself when the pressed cup member is strip d from the plunger, but if it should not ro out of itself, it may be removed easily by and or b suitable devices provided'therefor. This dis or blank, being accurately and cleanly cut out from the blank,may be used as a closure for the opening formed by its removal, in the further use of the cupped member.

The plunger 17, 18, is also provided with a vent passage 60, leading from its pressing end up and out at the side of the plunger to permit escape of moisture and vapor that may collect within the member being pressed and to facilitate removalof the pressed member from the plunger.

My invention is not limited to the particular embodiment thereof here shown and described, nor is it limited to any particular shape of cupped member or to any particular material to be pressed into shape.

Claims 1. A machine of the class described comprising in combination telescoping pressing members, one of which is provided upon its active surface with flow-obstructing surfaces with ring-like cylindrical surfaces between them.

2; A machine of the class described comprising in combination telescoping pressing members, one of which is provided upon its active surface with one or more flow-obstructing ring-like surfaces with ring-like cylindrical surfaces between them.

3. A machine of the class described comprising in combination telescoping pressing members, one of which is provided upon its active surface with spaced flow-obstructing rings having intermediate compression surfaces between them.

4. A machine of the class described containing in combination telescoping pressing members and ring-like, spring-pressed stripping means to assist in removing the pressed grticle from the pressing member or memers.

5. A machine for pressing cupped articles comprising in combination telescoping pressing members and cutting means to cut out an opening in the end of the cupped article.

6. A machine of the class described containing in combination telescoping pressing members, said members having vent passages at both sides of the article under compression for quickly venting the press of moisture and vapors generated therein.

i. A machine of the class described comprising in combination telescoping, pressing members, one of which is provided upon its active surface with flow-obstructing surfaces having ring-like, cylindrical surfaces between them, and work-clamping means surrounding said members.

8. A machine of the class described comprising in combination telescoping, pressing members, one of which is provided u on its active surface with one or more ow-obstructing ring-like surfaces with ring-1ike cylindrical surfaces between them, and corrugating means surrounding the telescoping members.

9. A machine of the class described comprising in combination telescoping, pressing members, one of which is provided upon its active surface with one or more flow-obstructing ring-like surfaces with ring-like cylindrical surfaces between them, and workclamping corrugations surrounding said telescoping members.

10. A machine of the class described comprising in combination telescoping, pressing members, one of which is provided with spaced, ring-like cylindrical surfaces and in-' terveniug ortions having tapering or inclined sur' aces, the whole presenting ringlike obstructions to the flow of stock between and longitudinally of said telescoping, pressing members.

11. A machine of the class described comprising in combination telescoping pressing members including a plunger and die box with a movable bottom, one of which is provided upon its active surface with one or more flow-obstructing surfaces, heating means for said die box, and means for ventlng the moisture and vapors generated in said die box.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

HAROLD O. .DAILEY. 

